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Although
nursing students typically receive experience in hospitals before graduation,
many do not spend clinical time in the operating room. A nursing student’s
lack of exposure to the OR can prevent new nurses from selecting the OR as a
place to work upon graduation. Mary Anne Greene, Director of Nursing Education
and Practice at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, wanted to change that by
creating an introductory course in perioperative nursing that would spark an
interest in students to enter the field. (Fall 2007) |
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Patient
interaction is a reason many enter the field of nursing, but in today’s
health care environment nurses have to juggle multiple tasks and interacting
with patients unfortunately loses its importance. When Judy Brown, Senior Vice
President of Patient Care Services at Howard County General Hospital,
established the Volunteer Nurse Program in 2002 she was relying on those very
nurses who enjoyed spending time with patients. (Spring 2006)
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Ernestine Cosby, R.N., inpatient
unit director at Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital in Baltimore, was looking
for a way to recognize outstanding contributions to patient care. She noticed
that the annual hospital-wide recognition ceremony was a real morale booster.
From that, the idea to implement “Morale Teams” was born. (October
2005)
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Program
Manager Ann Roney found that the prevalence rate for pressure ulcers had risen
quite dramatically from previous years. Concerned for the health and welfare of
patients at the Hagerstown hospital, Roney developed the “Skin Snooper
Specialist” course, designed to train nursing assistants on how to
prevent, identify, and treat pressure ulcers. She knew that if nursing
assistants were taught what to look for, the problem would be greatly reduced.
An added bonus to the program is that it has enhanced the role of nursing
assistants while improving morale. (October
2005)
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More
than a year ago, executives at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in
Baltimore brainstormed on ways to help with the problem of running overcrowded
emergency rooms more smoothly. The result was the creation of a new position at
the hospital—a critical care resource nurse. Since then, things have been
running with improved efficiency and employees at the hospital have been taking
notice. (May 2005)
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Traditionally, concierge services
are provided by hotels to assist their guests with running errands or making
reservations and recommendations. But now workplaces, including some Maryland
hospitals, are attempting to improve employee satisfaction and retention by
offering concierge-type services to their employees-and many workers are happy
to save time on necessary but time-consuming errands such as car washing,
ordering flowers, or finding tickets to an event. (May 2005)
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The
Washington County Hospital System (WCHS), which has about 2,100 employees,
launched a service in 1996 for employees enrolled in its retirement program to
get independent, professional financial advice. Before the program began,
employees would sign up for their retirement plans or make changes to their
financial portfolios without professional advice. Many blindly made decisions
about money they plan to use in their golden years based on a hunch or with
limited information. (January
2005)
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"When
can we get in our clinical instruction?" This question is part of a yearly
headache for many nursing program coordinators—finding where and when
their nursing students can get that essential hands-on experience they need to
enter into the profession. Waiting until the last minute may be the problem,
but Mt. Washington Pediatric in Baltimore has a surprisingly simple solution.
(September 2004)
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Today,
almost two years after the permanent night charge nurse on Greater Baltimore
Medical Center’s (GBMC) busy Post Partum unit took an extended leave, the
staff continues to cover the charge role. Sharing the charge nurse position is
“a leadership opportunity for every RN who’s in post partum,”
says clinical manager Etna Weinhold, who came up with the idea of rotating
charge nurses. The opportunity enhances the nurse “in terms of
professional development and in terms of thinking globally.” (Summer 2004)
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Manual
scheduling and payroll once was an arduous, time-consuming job for nurses at
The Johns Hopkins Hospital. But that changed when the hospital added new
technology that Hopkins nurses expect will result in greater employee
satisfaction and time savings. (Summer
2004) .
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If you
think that town hall meetings with their grassroots approach to problem solving
happen only in small-town New England, please think again. . . . . (February 2004)
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“Happier and more satisfied
nurses” is the reason for Western Maryland Health System’s dramatic
jump in inpatient satisfaction scores (to the 85th percentile), says
the health system’s Nancy Adams. She cites self-scheduling and the
“closed unit” concept as building blocks. (May 2003)
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Creating
a new clerical support position gives nurse managers more time for their ideal
role as “chief retention officers,” says North Arundel’s Elaine
Holman. The first coordinators hired have already become essential to their
managers. (July
2003)
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Brooks
McBurney and his human resources colleagues at Hagerstown’s Washington
County Hospital have come up with a creative answer to a basic complaint of
part-time hospital employees: If part-timers work more hours than they’re
scheduled for — which health care facilities often need them to do —
there may not be much of a reward in it for them. (September 2003)
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With the
beginning of the school year comes a challenge for both hospitals and those
employees who have children in elementary school: parents’ difficulty in
finding alternative child care when schools unexpectedly close for weather
emergencies often translates into difficulty in staffing hospitals. Doctors
Community Hospital in Prince George’s County has, however, found the
answer — or rather, created an answer. (September 2003)
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For two
and a half years, the Anne Arundel Medical Center has offered a
“shared” benefit to its Latino employees:the Medical Center
underwrites instruction costs and allows the employees to take the last half
hour of their work day twice a week to attend on-site “English as a Second
Language” (ESOL) classes. (September 2003)
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The new
wireless communication system now in the pilot stage at St. Agnes HealthCare in
Baltimore does have a Star Trek quality about it: While not quite as
sophisticated as the futuristic technology behind "Beam me up Scotty," the
system does allow a staff member's voice to be instantly beamed anywhere in the
hospital just by talking to it. (November 2003) |
